Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras
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Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras is a portfolio of 18 silver gelatin photographic prints made by Ansel Adams
in 1927. It was the first publication of a portfolio of his prints, produced not long after he decided to become a professional photographer, and has since been called "a landmark work in twentieth-century photography."
As a member of the Sierra Club
in the 1920s, Adams joined the Club's annual month-long High Trips
in the Sierra in addition to making several trips on his own. During these trips he captured large-format black-and-white images of many of the region's well-known features, including King's River Canyon
, Muir Gorge, the pinnacles at the headwaters of King's River, Mount Brewer
, The Black Kaweah
, Mount Ritter
, the Minarets
, the area around South Fork of the San Joaquin and Evolution Valley. The best known of these images is Adams' first masterpiece: Monolith, the Face of Half Dome
. The photographs he took on these trips became the core of the Parmelian Prints portfolio.
According to Adams, the idea for the portfolio came from Albert Bender, a well-known San Francisco art patron. The day after first meeting Adams in 1926, Bender met with him in Bender's office and suggested Adams create a portfolio which Bender would both support and help sell. Bender called his friend Jean Chambers Moore, a well-known publisher who agreed to oversee the production of the portfolio through the then highly respected Grabhorn Press. Bender immediately suggested an edition of 100 copies, plus 10 artist's copies, of 18 prints each. Within a few hours Bender had sold 56 sets of the edition by phone to his wealthy friends before any of them had met Adams or seen what the portfolio would look like.
The title of the portfolio was problematic to Adams. The term "parmelian" was a meaningless word invented by Bender after Moore said she felt that calling them "photographic prints" would not allow them to be taken seriously as art. Adams later said "I am not proud at allowing this breach of faith in my medium." To add to his chagrin, the word "Sierras" was also wrong. According to Adams, "The name Sierra is already a plural. To add an s is a linguistic, Californian, and mountaineering sin."
When the portfolio was published it included the statement "One Hundred and Fifty Copies Printed by the Grabhorn Press, San Francisco, August MCMXXVII". Moore apparently decided to increase the number of copies made after Bender’s initial success in selling them, but neither Adams nor Moore kept track of how many copies of the portfolio were actually printed. Adams later estimated that only about 100 were completed. Of these, an unknown number were later destroyed in a warehouse fire; it is thought that no more than 75 copies were ever delivered to clients.
Adams himself printed each of the images for the portfolios on Kodak Vitava Athena Grade T Parchment paper, which was both cream-colored and translucent due to the thinness of the paper. The prints measure 5 3/4" x 7 3/4" (14.6 x 19.7 cm) on sheets of 10" x 12" (25.4 cm x 30.5 cm).
The eighteen prints included in the portfolio were titled as follows:
In August, 2011, a complete copy of the portfolio was offered for sale for $110,000.
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
in 1927. It was the first publication of a portfolio of his prints, produced not long after he decided to become a professional photographer, and has since been called "a landmark work in twentieth-century photography."
As a member of the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
in the 1920s, Adams joined the Club's annual month-long High Trips
High Trips
The High Trips were large wilderness excursions organized and led by the Sierra Club beginning in 1901. Club secretary William Colby initiated the High Trips, which usually traveled to the High Sierra, and led them from 1901 to 1929. Colby wrote, "It was from John Muir, President of the Club,...
in the Sierra in addition to making several trips on his own. During these trips he captured large-format black-and-white images of many of the region's well-known features, including King's River Canyon
Kings River (California)
The Kings River is a major river of south-central California. About long, it drains an area of the high western Sierra Nevada and the Central Valley. A large alluvial fan has formed where the river's gradient decreases in the Central Valley so the river divides into distributaries...
, Muir Gorge, the pinnacles at the headwaters of King's River, Mount Brewer
Mount Brewer
Mount Brewer is on the Great Western Divide, a sub-range of the Sierra Nevada in California. It is located in Kings Canyon National Park,The peak was named for William Henry Brewer who worked on the first California Geological Survey and was the first Chair of Agriculture at Yale University's...
, The Black Kaweah
Black Kaweah
Black Kaweah is a mountain of the Kaweah Peaks Ridge of the California's Sierra Nevada, in Sequoia National Park. The peak has a local magnetic disturbance that has caused compasses in the vicinity to vary by up to eight degrees....
, Mount Ritter
Mount Ritter
Mount Ritter is located in the Sierra Nevada, in Madera County of California, in the Western United States. It is in the Ansel Adams Wilderness of the Inyo and Sierra National Forests. Mount Ritter is the 16th highest mountain peak of California.-Geography:...
, the Minarets
Minarets (California)
The Minarets are a series of jagged peaks located in the Ritter Range, a sub-range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the state of California. They are easily viewed from Minaret Summit, which is accessible by auto. The peaks bear a certain resemblance to the minarets of Islamic mosques...
, the area around South Fork of the San Joaquin and Evolution Valley. The best known of these images is Adams' first masterpiece: Monolith, the Face of Half Dome
Half Dome
Half Dome is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park, located in northeastern Mariposa County, California, at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley — possibly Yosemite's most familiar rock formation. The granite crest rises more than above the valley floor....
. The photographs he took on these trips became the core of the Parmelian Prints portfolio.
According to Adams, the idea for the portfolio came from Albert Bender, a well-known San Francisco art patron. The day after first meeting Adams in 1926, Bender met with him in Bender's office and suggested Adams create a portfolio which Bender would both support and help sell. Bender called his friend Jean Chambers Moore, a well-known publisher who agreed to oversee the production of the portfolio through the then highly respected Grabhorn Press. Bender immediately suggested an edition of 100 copies, plus 10 artist's copies, of 18 prints each. Within a few hours Bender had sold 56 sets of the edition by phone to his wealthy friends before any of them had met Adams or seen what the portfolio would look like.
The title of the portfolio was problematic to Adams. The term "parmelian" was a meaningless word invented by Bender after Moore said she felt that calling them "photographic prints" would not allow them to be taken seriously as art. Adams later said "I am not proud at allowing this breach of faith in my medium." To add to his chagrin, the word "Sierras" was also wrong. According to Adams, "The name Sierra is already a plural. To add an s is a linguistic, Californian, and mountaineering sin."
When the portfolio was published it included the statement "One Hundred and Fifty Copies Printed by the Grabhorn Press, San Francisco, August MCMXXVII". Moore apparently decided to increase the number of copies made after Bender’s initial success in selling them, but neither Adams nor Moore kept track of how many copies of the portfolio were actually printed. Adams later estimated that only about 100 were completed. Of these, an unknown number were later destroyed in a warehouse fire; it is thought that no more than 75 copies were ever delivered to clients.
Adams himself printed each of the images for the portfolios on Kodak Vitava Athena Grade T Parchment paper, which was both cream-colored and translucent due to the thinness of the paper. The prints measure 5 3/4" x 7 3/4" (14.6 x 19.7 cm) on sheets of 10" x 12" (25.4 cm x 30.5 cm).
The eighteen prints included in the portfolio were titled as follows:
- Sierra Junipers
- The Abode of Snow
- Monolith, the Face of Half Dome
- From Glacier Point
- On the Heights
- A Grove of Tamarack Pine
- Mount Galen Clark
- Mount Clarence King
- Roaring River Falls
- Marion Lake
- El Capitan
- Banner Peak - Thousand Island Lake
- Mount Brewer
- Kearsarge Pinnacles
- The Sentinel
- East Vidette
- Cloud and Mountain
In August, 2011, a complete copy of the portfolio was offered for sale for $110,000.